Nifty News

Faithful Followers

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

I spent all morning cleaning the boys' room. I mean, I really cleaned it! I suited up in hazmat gear and emptied out drawers, moved furniture, scrubbed walls, threw out food wrappers, and vacuumed up all the ants the food wrappers had attracted. I stripped the boys' beds, found 4 stray sippy cups in them, then washed all their bedding. I waded through mountains of smelly clothes, cleaned out the dresser drawers, and threw out tons of stuff. Finally, I brought in a pressure washer to hose the place down.

While I did this, Clay and Brooklyn played in the sand box. I could see them out the window and I checked on them several times. Until one time, I looked up and they weren't there. I had gotten a phone call and didn't realize how long I'd been on the phone until I checked on the kids and found them a few feet away at my neighbor's house. They had taken a small ladder and climbed up to see the bird's nest nestled in the crook where the gutter meets the downspout.

When I walked out, Clay was on the ladder looking in the nest. On the ground were 4 broken Robin's eggs. One of the eggs was broken in a small, plastic, play dish. I yelled at talked to them about staying in our yard and leaving daddy's ladder alone, and most importantly, not disturbing the nest and breaking the eggs. Clay told me, "I know we shouldn't have touched the eggs. We just wanted them to get bigger and then they broke." He looked genuinely sad. "But we're going to fix it," he quickly added. Then he asked Brooklyn to hand him the eggs. I looked at Brooklyn's hands and saw they contained 3 eggs from my fridge. Not only that, but she also held the 2 marshmallow peeps I'd found while cleaning the boys' room. (Yes, they were harder than granite. I know - ew)

If I hadn't interrupted them, Clay was going to put the 3 eggs from our refrigerator and the 2 "birds" (marshmallow Peeps) in the nest to make up for the eggs they broke. Oh yeah, that'll fix it. I'm sure the poor confused robin will never notice that her small, blue eggs have been replaced with chicken eggs and marshmallow Peeps. I can just see the "What the heck???" look on her little bird face now. She'd do a little birdy double-take and shake her head all confused, thinking she'd flown to the wrong nest.

Ugh, I'm hoping our discussion will sink in and he'll understand what he did wrong and why he needs to respect nature and leave creatures alone.

I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

*****************************************I'll be at The Ice House Mall in Barrington, ILtomorrow (Thursday) from 5-7 for a book signing. There will be wine, swag bags for guests, a raffle for a mall gift certificate, and the restaurant is offering 50% off an entree when you present a signed copy of my book. Come join us for some pre-Mother's Day fun!

I got a spanking and a thorough talking to when I messed with a nest with robin eggs in it. I don't advocate spanking, but let the kids know that the momma bird is so very saddened by the loss of her babies. Animals mourn the loss of their babioes too.

Good going on the now clean rooms. I wish I had the energy to clean Arielle's room. It's just too much of a chore to do right now while I am working for the school. I need at least a week off to tackle that mess. Love ya, Dawn!*hugs*

Oh I love it -- and hey, I am truly impressed that he had the impression to try to fix his mistake. Although he made a mistake, at least he realized it and wanted to make it feel better. That has to make you feel better, right?

Oh and ummm, isn't 111 Grille giving 15% off? 50% is even better though! I thought that's what the lady at Zinnia's told me when I was there last week (and yes, she was telling everyone all about it). I'm so gathering up friends to come -- for the wine ;)

I am so excited! I WON A COPY OF YOUR BOOK from Book Club Buzz! I've already bought one for everyone I know, my daughters-in-law are each getting one for mother's Day as well as most of my friends. I didn't win the auction, was 2nd tho, didn't win the one you were giving away but I finally got one for free! WTG Me! I was very excited to get the email today. I bragged about you and your book to our book club members yesterday and they all asked me to send them your link, so it looks like you'll have around 12 more people gawking at ya! lol (Like you don't have a million of us already!). Just wanted to share my good news.

Aren't boys wonderful? In a totally weird and incomprehensible way, of course. But wonderful nevertheless.

I threatened to clean my 9yo's room the other day. He gave me a suspicious look and asked, "What are you going to do with my toys?" Smart kid. I replied, "I will bag them up and put in the forbidden part of the basement for a month. Or you could clean your room. If you don't do a good job, I reserve the right to carry out my nefarious plan."

I can't make it all the way to Barrington tonight (it is softball season). Any chance you'll be coming down to the south side (Tinley/Orland Park area) for a signing? I would love to meet you and buy multiple copies of your book and tell you how brave and funny and wonderful you are in person!

Oh. My. I have to say that I really laughed... and felt really bad for the robin. :(

AND I think that you need to come down to St. Louis and do a book signing. I am afraid that I would be too excited to talk to you and make a fool of myself though. OR I would just look aloof and snobby, either way I am in trouble.

I'm always finding sippy cups in the oddest places. I'm glad he at least recognized his mistake and was trying to fix it. If my kids had access to eggs, it would have happened here too. As it is, I keep catching them trying to get the tadpoles out of the pond so they can get some air.

Oh, poor robin... but they were at least TRYING to fix it! That was pretty creative to think of using the marshmallow peeps!I'm gonna be there at the Ice House Mall tonight... For your sake I hope there's a lotta people, but for my sake I hope there's not TOO many people, since big crowds sorta freak me out!

That was a very creative solution to the problem! Cute (from a distance). I'm sure I would have freaked out if it had been my children. I need to learn to lighten up! I always find other children's antics much funnier than when my children do something crazy.

oy! My email was slow to send me yesterday's post-got it today and...I open my local paper at 9:51pm tonite and low and behold I see a pix of you! Sorry I missed seeing you at the Ice House. Hope it went well! Cheers and Happy Mother's Day!

Everytime I read one of your stories about Clay and Brooklyn, I think of Lucy and Ethel. Yep. Those two kids find all sorts of hilarious adventures just like Lucy and her side kick, Ethel. Gotta love em. But I must ask...How in the world did Clay get the ladder up against the tree?

I enjoyed your Mother's Day ideas. I will have to send your link to my husband's blackberry...hopefully he will read it before Sunday!

I'm so glad you didn't spank the kids, and I'm so sorry Andi got one when she was a little girl. It's stories like this that shine a light onto the possibility of thinking differently about parenting. . . like recognizing that mistakes don't deserve to be punished. They're part of training children to become adults!

Oh my, that was hysterical! At least your kids are empathetic enough to try to "fix" the problem (and their plan was uniquely ingenious too, I might add!) This must have been a moment when you had to turn away to laugh, then turn back to talk to them about respecting nature, (then turn away again to giggle some more)! Too cute of a story! Thanks!